Tree Hugger
Originally published at lianhua.nu. Please leave any comments there.
More and more often lately, I find myself becoming increasingly restless.
Part of the reason is because I’ve been sick the past couple of days - a nasty little cold. It kind of sucks not being able to get out of the house very much.
But I feel like another part of the reason is just that I haven’t really done anything with my life in a little while. I’ve just been going through the motions - getting up, going to work, going home, going to bed, lather, rinse, repeat - with very little to break up the monotony. Not that our life is necessarily monotonous - we do things a little different every day, of course - but outside of work I find myself not really doing a whole lot.
The other day I heard about Disney’s announcement that in 2010 they’ll be offering free admission to one of their parks for anyone who volunteers for a day (of course, with a few restrictions/caveats) - they’re calling it “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day.” I signed up for more info and decided to check out HandsOn, the volunteering network that Disney teamed up with for the opportunities they’d accept for free admission.
While perusing some of the opportunities, checking out what HandsOn is all about and just piddling around while I waited for some tests to run at work, I ended up on the website for LA Works, a Los Angeles-based volunteer network. “Cool!” I thought. “I bet I can find some really close to Glendale.”
The more I looked through the opportunities, the more I found myself wanting to apply to them, especially the ones that had to do with being an outdoor educational guide at children’s museums, leading nature walks for kids or mentoring teenage girls. I love kids, and I love spending time with them and helping them learn new and fun things. And I love the outdoors, which several of the opportunities offered.
Suddenly I realized - this could help to solve my restlessness.
I mean, volunteering is a great way to get out of the house, and of course it’s a great way to help out the community. In high school, I volunteered for several years at the local hospital - I worked at the information desk and directed visitors to other parts of the hospital. While I longed to have more interaction with the patients, and especially the kids, in the hospital, I was happy just to be able to get out on the weekends and help out in the community. Volunteering with kids - especially in situations where I’d be teaching them about plants and animals - sounds a lot more stimulating and fun, and the good feelings I had when I volunteered at the hospital would naturally come along too, of course.
So I sent interest emails to a couple of opportunities, and recently heard back from both of them. One is volunteering for Kidspace, a children’s museum in Pasadena, where I’d be working as an educational guide in one of their garden learning spaces, and the other is for a nature walk program for families, where I’d be either helping keep the group together on the walks or, if I’m lucky, leading a walk myself. Either way, they both sound amazing.
I’m really excited. I have to email the nature walk program back for more information, and I’m scheduled to talk to one of the directors at Kidspace on Monday. I’ll keep you updated on what happens! :)